Shabin Built!

Much progress to report! As planned, we contracted with a builder to put up the basic, weather-tight structure. We went with In-State Builders in Romney, WV. They did a great job! The total cost was a bit less than a similar size shed from a home center before delivery, and this was much higher quality and built to my exact specification. If you have a building project in or near Hampshire County I highly recommend Roger and his crew.

Here it is with the doors open, and Carleigh included for scale :-) We had the plywood siding stained with a semi-transparent oil based stain. The oil penetrates the wood to offer good long term protection from the elements. As a semi transparent finish, the wood itself still shows through. That gives it a rustic, weathered appearance we wanted. The silver-grey-blue shade fades in nicely with the surrounding trees, and the cabin is all but invisible from the road.

An important design feature of the cabin is that each of the windows have shutters which we can lock. This should provide us good protection against weather and people who may come wandering by. This was an important feature for us, given that the place will be unoccupied for long periods of time. The main shed doors function in much the same way, offering protection to the sliding glass doors we will install behind them.

On the inside, we have one big room and a sleeping loft. The overall size is 12' x 16', while the loft is 12' x 8'. In the right rear corner of the cabin is a utility closet, which is accessed from an outside door.

For our first working trip, we loaded the truck up with tools and supplies. We also stopped at Lowe's on the way to pick up a few more things. I ordered what we needed on Lowe's web site the day before. That is a great way to do the home center thing. Their web site is well integrated with the in store inventory, so you know if they have something in stock or not. After ordering and paying, they collect everything from around the store and have it waiting for you, and they help load it into your car! This let us just stop off at a Lowe's next to the interstate on the way up, and saved huge amounts of time and headache searching through the store.

The first project was to use the left over stain and cover the inside of the doors. As these will be open whenever we at the camp, we wanted them to both look nice and be protected from the elements.

I think they look great! Among the things we picked up at Lowe's was a cheap picnic table. It came disassembled and the wood unfinished. I used some more left over stain to coat it as well. So now we have a color-coordinated picnic table.

The next project is installing a sliding glass door behind the shed doors. Stay tuned!